The payments have left some of the world's poorest countries having to make cuts to health and education services and have limited their ability to tackle climate change.
Interest payments surged by nearly a third to $406bn, the Washington-based organisation said, benefiting banks based in financial centres such as London and New York and governments that have lent billions of pounds to low income countries.
Indermit Gill, the World Bank's chief economist, said low income countries were increasingly turning to agencies like his to fill the funding gap. "In highly indebted poor countries, multilateral development banks are now acting as a lender of last resort, a role they were not designed to serve," he said.
This story is from the December 04, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the December 04, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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